Texas Hold'em Poker has been very popular. As a result, there have emerged many derivatives of Hold'em Poker in hopes of riding its coattail. The majority of these games is played against a house dealer and goes as follows:
The dealer shuffles a complete deck of 52 playing cards. Each player makes an ante bet. Each player and the dealer are dealt two cards face-down. There is a round of “pre-flop” betting. The player is required to either fold and lose the ante bet or make an additional bet up to twice the ante. After the betting round ends, the dealer discards the top card of the deck and then deals the next three cards face up on the table. These cards are called the “flop.” These are community cards that everyone can use in combination with his or her two hole cards to form a poker hand. Another round of betting may be conducted in which the player can fold, bet, or check (i.e. decline to bet but continue participation in the game). After the round of betting concludes, the dealer burns another card and deals a fourth community card onto the table. This is called the “turn card.” Another round of betting may be conducted in which the player can check or bet, after which the dealer burns another card and deals a fifth community card onto the table. This is the “river card.” In some variants of Texas Hold'em the dealer will deal the fourth and fifth cards together, resulting in one fewer round of betting. Each player uses any of the five community cards on the table and his or her two hole cards to form a five card poker hand. The dealer reveals his cards and likewise forms a five card poker hand using the five community cards and two dealer hole cards. The dealer compares his five card poker hand with each player's five card poker hand. The higher five card poker hand wins. If the player wins, he or she is rewarded; if the dealer wins, the player's ante wager along with any additional bets placed during the betting rounds are collected.
Currently the most popular of these variants is Texas Hold'em Bonus Poker. It is closest to the real Texas Hold'em Poker because of its multiple betting rounds and betting structure. The game begins with each player making an ante bet. The dealer deals each player and himself two hole cards. Now the player must either fold and lose the ante or place a second bet equal to twice the ante bet to stay in the game. The dealer then deals three community cards face up. The remaining players can either check or place a third bet equal to the ante. The dealer then deals the fourth community card. Each player again either checks or places a fourth bet equal to the ante. The dealer then deals the fifth and final card and reveals his-two hole cards. Whoever can form the best five card hand out of the seven cards (five community cards plus two hole cards) wins. A winning player hand is usually paid 1 to 1 on the total of the bets placed. However, if the player hand wins but is less than a straight or better, the player is only paid on the second through fourth bets, i.e. the player is not paid for the ante bet and the ante bet is simply returned. A different version requires the player hand to be a flush or better for the player to be paid for the ante bet.
Another hold'em variation is Ultimate Texas Hold'em™. The game begins with each player placing an ante and a blind bet. The ante and blind bets must be equal. Each player and the dealer receive two hole cards. Players can either check or make a play bet equal to four times the ante bet. The dealer deals a three-card flop of community cards. Players who did not place a play bet have the option to check or place a play bet equal to twice the ante. The dealer deals two final community cards. Players who have not placed a play bet have the option to fold or place a play bet equal to the ante. The dealer reveals his two hole cards and forms a hand using his hole cards and the community cards. If the dealer does not have at least a pair, the player's ante bet is returned but play proceeds with the play bets. If a player's hand formed using his hole cards and the community cards beats the dealer's hand, the player is paid even money on his play bet and ante bet (if it has not already been returned). If the dealer's hand beats the player's hand, the player loses. If player's hand ties the dealer's hand, the play and ante bets push. The blind bet is paid if the player's winning hand is a flush or higher; if the player's winning hand is lower than a flush, the blind bet pushes.
Another hold'em variant is World Poker Tour (“WPT”) All-In Hold'em™. The game begins with all players making an ante bet. The dealer deals two hole cards to each player and the dealer. The player can (1) fold and lose the ante, (2) raise by betting five times the ante, or (3) go all-in and bet ten times the ante. The dealer then deals five community cards face-up and reveals the dealer's two hole cards. The players and the dealer form the best hand possible from five out of the seven cards (two hole cards and five community cards). A two-tiered dealer qualifying system comes into play when the dealer settles the bets. The sum of the dealer's two hole cards determines whether or not the dealer can qualify to play against all the bets, the raise bets (which were 5× the ante bet) or the all-in bets (which were 10× the ante bet). All face cards count as ten and aces count as eleven. If the dealer's two hole cards add up to twelve or less, then the dealer does not qualify to play against the players and the players are paid only on the ante bet with raise and all-in bets being returned. If the sum is thirteen to sixteen, then winning players are paid only on the ante bet and raise bets with all-in bets being returned.
Yet another hold'em variant is Riverboat Hold'em. Players make an ante bet. The dealer and each player then receive two hole cards. Players have the option to call, raise, or fold and lose the ante. If a player calls he must place a bet equal to the ante. If a player raises he must place a bet equal to twice the ante. The dealer then deals a three-card flop. Both the player and dealer will share these three community cards and make a five card poker hand with their two hole cads. The dealer must have a King-Jack or higher to qualify. If the dealer can't qualify all ante bets are paid 1 to 1. If the dealer qualifies, he will compare his hand with each player's hand and the higher hand wins. If the player hand outranks the dealer's hand, the player is paid even money on all bets. If the dealer hand outranks the player hand, the player loses all bets. In the event of a tie, the dealer wins.
What the majority of these games have in common is that players must fold if they do not want to risk additional bets to stay in the game. Sometimes they regret folding their hand after the dealer has revealed the flop because the two cards they folded, when combined with the flop, could have made a good hand.
What these games also have in common is that everyone makes their best five card poker hand out of a total of seven cards. Common observations are that casino dealers who are not poker dealers either have difficulty or are slow in identifying the best five of the seven cards. They make errors that annoy the players and cost the casinos money.
Furthermore, some of these games are expensive and intimidating to play owing to the quantity and size of bets the player is required to make. Some require five or six bet units per hand; others such as WPT All-In Hold'em™ require up to eleven bet units per hand. For example, a $10 ante means that an additional $100 bet must be made for the player to place the all-in bet. Many players are too intimidated to take the risk, even if the optimal play is to place the all-in bet. Consequently, many players lose the thrill of “winning big” and are unable to take advantage of the optimal play of the game.
Also, some of these hold'em variants require the player to make a bold betting decision after seeing just two of the seven cards they will have. These decisions involve making an additional bet that is several times their ante. With so little information available, it is a difficult decision which can be intimidating to make.
Moreover, some of these hold'em variants have multiple three betting rounds which necessitate memorizing up to three playing strategies. While the first strategy may be simple, as more cards are revealed the five and six card strategies become much more complicated. As nobody can memorize tens of thousands of playing decisions, the player will tend to lose more often than he should and feel that he cannot win the game.